I Made A New Game Mode ^___^

Because I had absolutely nothing to do today, I came up with an idea for a whole strategy-based game mode that's pretty much my attempt to shine a new light on S4. It'll probably have balance issues but if you guys care enough to suggest things to me I'll be willing to tweak it.

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Harvest Mode

Introduction

The objective of Harvest Mode is to destroy your opponent's Transistor (Power Node in Unreal Tournament, Nexus in League of Legends, etc). You do this by simply unloading bullets on it. The twist? It's protected by a forcefield that you can't shoot down with your guns. The only way you can shoot the Transitor is if you blow up a Nullifier (A bomb of sorts) on the forcefield.

Why is it called Harvest Mode? Because the only way you can do anything is by harvesting energy from either the opposing team's dead players or from neutral mobs that spawn randomly throughout the map.

What do you do with this energy? Well, you can spawn nullifiers, construct buildings, capture control nodes, heal your Transistor, upgrade buildings...

Yes, this is S4 mashed up with a myriad of RTSes. watchu know 'bout RTSes?

Setup

This game mode encourages the use of only two weapons. Why two? Your third weapon, if you opt to use two, will be a Harvester, which, as the name implies, harvests energy. It's also the main utility of the mode, since it does pretty much everything else you need to do to win, which includes constructing/upgrading buildings and controlling the Nullifier.

Teams consist of a maximum of six players, like other game modes.

Anyone who equips three weapons upon game start will be asked if they want to drop a weapon for a Harvester.

Use of melee is discouraged here, since neither the Transistor nor any buildings can be damaged by melee.

All players permanently have 250 HP plus any +HP bonuses they might be wearing. No additional defense bonuses are granted. If you are killed, you drop a certain amount of energy by default plus any energy you might be carrying.

Structures and Mobs

Core Structures

Energy (ammunition) - Dropped by mobs/enemy players when they're killed. Actual players drop more energy than mobs do.

Left Click: Harvest (with Harvester)

Harvester (weapon) - Main tool of Harvest Mode (duh). Has various uses, such as harvesting energy from mobs/enemy players that have been killed, constructing buildings, healing/upgrading any of your structures including your Transistor, and controlling/detonating the Nullifier. It has no ammunition, however its storage is capped at a maximum of 100 energy. Opting to build/upgrade/heal a structure brings up a build menu where you select what you want to do.

Left Click: Harvest/Take Nullifier (When aimed at Nullifier)/Move Nullifier (When controlling Nullifier)
Right Click: Construct/Upgrade or heal(when aimed at a structure)/Detonate Nullifier (When controlling Nullifier)

Control Node - There are three in every map; one in Alpha, one in middle, one in Beta; they can be either neutral or under the ownership of either team. They must be captured in order for any structures to be built in the area they represent. If a Control Node is in the ownership of the opposing team, it must be captured twice (It becomes neutral after you capture it once). Energy can be deposited into a neutral or friendly Node, however the opposing team can take your energy from a neutral node. If the opposing team captures your node, they take all of your energy that might have been in it.

Left Click: Capture (with Harvester)
Right Click: Deposit Energy (stores all the energy within your Harvester; there is no limit to how much can be stored)
CTRL+Left Click: Take Energy (select how much)

Transistor - You must destroy your opponent's and protect your own. It's protected by a forcefield that cannot be shut off except with the use of a Nullifier.

500 HP for every opposing player
Right Click: Heal (with Harvester, forcefield must be down) (100 HP per 10 energy)

Nullifier (base form) - A bomb of sorts which will temporarily disable a Transistor's forcefield. The length of time for which the forcefield is disabled depends on what type of Nullifier was detonated. Can be used to detonate your own Transistor's forcefield. Does no actual damage. Only one Nullifier may be moved outside of a map area (Alpha, middle, or Beta) per team, however each Catalyst can spawn 5 Nullifiers. Two Catalysts may be present in a friendly section of the map.

250 HP, moves at 1x walking speed. Upon death of whoever is controlling it, will shield itself from damage for 5 seconds.
Left Click: Move (with Harvester), point and click
Right Click: Detonate (with Harvester), disables forcefield for 30 seconds
CTRL+Left Click: Pick up (with Harvester)
CTRL+Right Click: Upgrade (speed, armored, stealth, each has 7 second build time)
COST: 25 energy
ON KILL: Drop 15 energy

Nullifier (speed) - A bomb of sorts which will temporarily disable a Transistor's forcefield. The length of time for which the forcefield is disabled depends on what type of Nullifier was detonated. Can be used to detonate your own Transistor's forcefield. Does no actual damage. Only one Nullifier may be moved outside of a map area (Alpha, middle, or Beta) per team, however each Catalyst can spawn 5 Nullifiers. Two Catalysts may be present in a friendly section of the map.

250 HP, moves at 1.4x walking speed. Upon death of whoever is controlling it, will shield itself from damage for 5 seconds.
Left Click: Move (with Harvester), point and click
Right Click: Detonate (with Harvester), disables forcefield for 15 seconds
CTRL+Left Click: Pick up (with Harvester)
COSTS: 25 energy from Nullifier (base form)
ON KILL: Drop 30 energy

Nullifier (armored) - A bomb of sorts which will temporarily disable a Transistor's forcefield. The length of time for which the forcefield is disabled depends on what type of Nullifier was detonated. Can be used to detonate your own Transistor's forcefield. Does no actual damage. Only one Nullifier may be moved outside of a map area (Alpha, middle, or Beta) per team, however each Catalyst can spawn 5 Nullifiers. Two Catalysts may be present in a friendly section of the map.

750 HP, moves at 0.75x walking speed. Upon death of whoever is controlling it, will shield itself from damage for 5 seconds.
Left Click: Move (with Harvester), point and click
Right Click: Detonate (with Harvester), disables forcefield for 15 seconds
CTRL+Left Click: Pick up (with Harvester)
COSTS: 25 energy from Nullifier (base form)
ON KILL: Drop 30 energy

Nullifier (stealth) - A bomb of sorts which will temporarily disable a Transistor's forcefield. The length of time for which the forcefield is disabled depends on what type of Nullifier was detonated. Can be used to detonate your own Transistor's forcefield. Does no actual damage. Only one Nullifier may be moved outside of a map area (Alpha, middle, or Beta) per team, however each Catalyst can spawn 5 Nullifiers. Two Catalysts may be present in a friendly section of the map.

250 HP, moves at 1x walking speed. Upon death of whoever is controlling it, it will cloak itself from the opposing team for 10 seconds.
Left Click: Move (with Harvester), point and click
Right Click: Detonate (with Harvester), disables forcefield for 10 seconds
CTRL+Left Click: Pick up (with Harvester)
COSTS: 40 energy from Nullifier (base form)
ON KILL: Drop 45 energy

Buildings

Catalyst - Used to spawn a Nullifier. Only one Nullifier may be moved outside of a map area (Alpha, middle, or Beta) per team, however each Catalyst can spawn 5 Nullifiers. Two Catalysts may be present in a friendly section of the map.

300 HP, 20 second build time
Left Click: Spawn Nullifier (with Harvester) (cost 25 energy, 15 second build time)
CTRL+Right Click: Upgrade production speed (with Harvester) (cost 70 energy for first upgrade (1.5x faster), 100 energy for second upgrade (2x faster); each upgrade takes 5 seconds)
COSTS: 100 energy
ON KILL: Drop 50 energy

Totem (base form) - Will shoot at anything within its range. Shoots at one target, not including Nullifiers.

500 HP, 15 second build time. 40 damage @ 1 shot/4 sec. Unlimited ammo. Pushback.
CTRL+Right Click: Upgrade
COSTS: 20 energy
ON KILL: Drop 12 energy

Totem (homing) - Shorter range than a base form totem. Works like a Sentry Gun. Shoots at one target, not including Nullifiers.

400 HP, 15 second build time. 10 damage @ 0.5 shots/sec. Five shot burst. Unlimited ammo.
Right Click: Heal (100 HP per 10 energy)
COSTS: 15 energy from Totem (base form)
ON KILL: Drop 21 energy

Totem (blast) - Longer range than a base form totem. Shoots powerful projectiles at a very slow rate. Potential targets will hear a ring 5 seconds before the totem shoots if they are within blast radius. Shoots at one target, not including Nullifiers.

400 HP, 15 second build time. 250 damage @ 1 shot/20 sec. Unlimited ammo.
Right Click: Heal (100 HP per 10 energy)
COSTS: 15 energy from Totem (base form)
ON KILL: Drop 21 energy

Burrow Mine - Detonates if any player steps over it. Will damage anything, even friendly players and structures (including Nullifiers). Only slightly protrudes from the ground.

100 HP, 5 second build time. 500 damage on detonation. One-time use.
COSTS: 25 energy

EMP Node - Depletes the SP of anyone within blast radius and stuns for 3 seconds. Uncloaks any cloaked Nullifiers.

400 HP, 10 second build time. 20 damage @ 1 shot/10 sec. Unlimited ammo.
Right Click: Heal (100 HP per 10 energy)
COSTS: 25 energy
ON KILL: Drop 15 energy

Mobs

Entity - Carries SMGs. Will only walk and strafe. Only attacks when attacked. Spawns everywhere. Medium respawn rate.

130 HP, shoots in bursts of 12.
ON KILL: Drop 5 energy

Aggressor - Carries either SMGs, a Smash Rifle, a Revolver, or a Semi Rifle. Only attacks players. Only spawns in the middle of the map. High respawn rate.

100 HP, shoots in bursts of 12, 25, 2, or 12, respectively.
ON KILL: Drop nothing

Android A - Carries a Plasma Sword. Will charge you when attacked. Sprints and uses all attacks. Only attacks when attacked. Spawns everywhere. Medium respawn rate.

100 HP.
ON KILL: Drop 5 energy

Android B - Carries a Counter Sword. Will charge you when attacked. Sprints and uses smash/uppercut combo. Only attacks when attacked. Spawns everywhere. Low respawn rate.

100 HP.
ON KILL: Drop 7 energy

Android C - Carries a Spy Dagger. Will use Invisibility when attacked and immediately try to dagger dash you. Only attacks when attacked. Spawns everywhere. Low respawn rate.

100 HP.
ON KILL: Drop 7 energy

Guardian - Defends Control Nodes. Carries a Heavy Machine Gun. Will not respawn.

500 HP. Unloads full magazine all at once.
ON KILL: Drop 30 energy

Opposing Player - Actual player on the other team.

ON KILL: Drop 20 energy + any energy they are carrying

Format

Games are always 30 minutes long with no halves. Whoever destroys their opponent's Transistor first wins. If neither Transistor is destroyed, both team's forcefields are disabled and the match runs into overtime.

Early game will typically go like this, from Alpha's point of view:

- Alpha immediately kills the Guardian defending their own Control Node and captures it. Both teams may race towards the middle Control Node to try to capture it, but it may not be a viable option since you must kill several Aggressors plus the middle Guardian to get to it. One player will typically scout the other team at this point in the game.
- Assuming an extremely offensive strategy, Alpha will spawn a Catalyst to try to get 5 Nullifiers ASAP. They will either kill mobs which typically spawn in the middle of the map or opposing players, or both, to harvest energy.
- Base form Totems will be built around the Catalyst; the Catalyst will then be maxed out and 5 Nullifiers will be pumped out.
- Nullifiers may or may not be upgraded depending on what the scout saw. If for example, however, Beta is also running an extremely offensive strategy, a base form Nullifier will be rushed into the opposing forcefield while all other Nullifiers are upgraded.

Obviously, since this game mode is very similar to an RTS, many other possibilities are present.

Maps

Maps will generally be very large, with ample room for SC2-like Terran-sized "bases" to be constructed. Maps are divided into three sections: Alpha, middle, and Beta. The Transistors will be usually be at the far ends of maps. Each team spawns directly behind their Transistor. Control Nodes will usually be directly in the middle of each area of the map. Mobs that spawn in the middle section will always spawn around the Control Node; mobs that spawn at Alpha or Beta will usually be at the far ends of each section, close to middle.

I actually drew up models for maps and some of the structures I listed, but since I don't have access to a scanner right now I'll upload them later when I get a chance.
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This is all I've got so far, so sorry if it's vague or anything like that. If you took the time to read the whole thing please feel free to suggest anything.

This post has been edited by Böneface: 23 January 2011 - 08:27 AM